Death Goddess

A day later.

More than a hundred space warships slowly flew toward the Asgard Continent.

These were the latest space warships produced by Thanos's forces, sent to reinforce the front lines.

On one of the large motherships, Loki idly flipped through the book in his hands.

Ever since Thanos had visited once, it seemed as if Loki had been forgotten. No one had come to see him again.

If Robot had not occasionally brought him food, he would have suspected that he had fallen into another cosmic wormhole.

Just when he thought he would die of old age in prison, someone suddenly transferred him onto another spacecraft.

Now he felt uneasy about his fate as well, not knowing how Thanos intended to deal with him.

He also hated this feeling of having no control over his own destiny. It was simply awful.

Just then, the door to the room opened, and two figures entirely clad in metal approached.

"Come out."

At Loki's words, the book in his hand instantly vanished, and he obediently followed behind them.

These metal fellows were all Robot, equipped with infrared scanners, heat sensors, ultraviolet detection, and more.

They were practically the bane of his illusions.

A while later, he arrived outside the spacecraft and saw that large purple figure, Thanos.

But soon, he spotted an unexpected figure as well.

Over three meters tall, with a pale blue body.

Wasn't that his adoptive father, Laufey, King of the Frost Giants?

The moment he saw this, Loki jumped in fright and instinctively tried to retreat.

After all, he had nearly destroyed the Frost Giants' planet, Jotunheim, with the Bifrost.

Laufey had probably come to settle the score with him.

But soon, a stern voice forced him to stop.

"Where do you think you're running?"

Immediately afterward, a blue beam shot over and instantly froze his body.

Laufey walked over, grabbed Loki, and respectfully said to Thanos, "Thank you, Lord Thanos. From this day onward, the Frost Giants shall follow your commands."

In truth, he had never wanted to become Thanos's subordinate.

But he had seen endless destruction and devastation in Thanos's eyes, as well as the nearly uncontrollable destructive energy throughout his body. It made Laufey understand that Thanos was a true overlord, someone that hypocrite Odin could never compare to.

If he refused to submit, both he and his people would likely be destroyed.

Especially now, without a divine artifact, he could not even put up any resistance.

So, after a discussion, he still chose to surrender.

Besides, Thanos had saved his only bloodline, so submitting did not feel as burdensome anymore.

Seeing Laufey submit, Thanos nodded in satisfaction. "We have a complete system of rewards and punishments. As long as you earn merit, even ruling a Galaxy will not be a problem."

Making grand promises was a skill.

If the promise was not big enough, no one would even bother looking at it.

Besides, he was not lying.

As long as someone had enough merit, they really could rule a Galaxy.

But the prerequisite was conquering ten Galaxys first, so there would be enough merit to exchange for one Galaxy.

Laufey was no fool either.

In more than a thousand years of life, what kinds of people had he not seen? What kinds of words had he not heard?

Regarding Thanos's promise, he merely nodded faintly before leaving with his son.

Although Loki had nearly destroyed Jotunheim, he was still Laufey's only son. Laufey could not truly do anything to him.

But while death could be avoided, punishment could not.

Seeing the unfriendly look in Laufey's eyes, Loki hurriedly cried out, "No... Help..."

Inside Asgard's temple.

Odin dismissed Thor and Heimdall, then entered the Bifrost alone.

After a flash of light, he vanished from where he stood.

The next instant, he appeared in the Underworld, the realm of the dead.

The sky here was filled with darkness. Even the sun was black. Deathly energy permeated the air, and the ground was covered in bones.

After Odin appeared, the bones on the ground immediately rose into the air and formed skeletons.

Soon, soul flames ignited in the skeletons' eye sockets, and they charged at Odin with bared claws and fangs.

In the Underworld, all living creatures were hated and attacked.

Odin's face darkened. He gripped Gungnir and fired an energy blast.

After a thunderous roar, every skeleton turned to dust, and a crack more than a hundred meters wide and several kilometers long appeared in the ground.

This was only because the Underworld's space was more solidified than that of the real world, limiting the destruction to this extent.

After that attack, no more skeletons formed. It seemed that even the undead bullied the weak and feared the strong.

A while later, a massive shadow with an indistinct form appeared in the void.

"Odin, why have you come to my Underworld!"

Though it was phrased as a question, the tone was accusatory. Clearly, the shadow did not like Odin.

Odin knew that he and the other party did not get along, so he impatiently said, "I've come to take my daughter."

After saying that, he sensed Hela's location and vanished in a flash.

When he reappeared, he stood before a tomb.

The tomb was enormous, over ten meters tall and covering more than a thousand square meters. If not for the tombstone in front of it, no one would have known it was a grave.

Before the tomb sat a kneeling woman.

She had long black hair and wore a tight black outfit. Her entire body exuded the aura of death.

She was Hela, the Death Goddess.

When Odin saw what his daughter had become, his heart stirred.

Had I been too harsh on her?

Before the Nine Realms had been pacified, Hela had been his foremost general.

She had fought and bled for him, killing countless enemies and conquering countless planets.

But because she had awakened the bloodline of a witch, he had sealed her in the Underworld for over a thousand years.

But he soon shook his head.

The bloodline of Asgard's royal family could not be tainted. The only one who could become Asgard's God King and succeed him had to possess Asgardian blood.

With that thought, his gaze became resolute as he coldly said, "I will give you one chance now. Return to Asgard with me, but you must obey my commands!"

Hela, who had been kneeling before the tomb, drew the deathly aura surrounding her back into her body and opened her eyes.

Those eyes were filled with darkness and death. It seemed that one more glance would drag a person into the abyss.

A moment later, her attire began to change.

Black-and-green armor appeared over her body, a cloak formed behind her, and finally, a helmet resembling spider legs emerged upon her head.

"Odin! I've waited for you for a long time!"

With that, a black sword instantly shot from her hand toward Odin.